A Personal Pet Peeve

     One thing that never fails to astonish me is the odd reception I get as a bird parent (or Parront) when I tell people about my babies. it's an odd reaction people seem to have and I don't think it crosses over to other types of pet-companions

     When I tell a story about my birds, I almost invariably get a response story that starts out something like "....Oh, (I, my mother, my family) had a bird once but it died..." and what follows will be a description (including enough information for me to know how it would have been avoidable) of the birds death.If this was a one time thing, I don't think I would find it nearly so noticeable, but I can think of at least 15 people who I still associate with but do not tell bird stories to, for this reason.

     Dog people...when you talk about your dogs, do people feel compelled to tell you the story about "well I had him off the leash and I should have been watching for that garbage truck..."

     Cat people( not Cat People) do people seem to be compelled to tell you "...they still land on their feet off the fourth floor balcony, but those feet are now in the chest cavity"

     People with children (oh, yes he did) do you ever get something like "...I really should have been watching him around that fan..."

      An I will admit to you, my faithful and casual readers, that in my darkest (and sometimes not nearly so dark) moments I have been tempted to create from whole cloth a cautionary tale of "I had this pet/child but it died" just to see what sort of a reaction it would get from a non-parront. I do not do that, however because I am polite and empathic enough to figure out "they really don't want to hear that- they are happy about their pet/child and I should just enjoy the story and be happy too"

     I do a google search for dog people, I get multiple links about dog people vs cat people, why dogs are better than cats, etc. I do a google search for cat people I get the same plus Nastassja Kinski.

     When I search for bird people I get this:

 

Maybe people have to be bird people to get bird people. Maybe birds aren't really pets or companions in "Murican" Culture mean, just sort of a weird affectation. or Maybe I just don't get people who don't get me...

 

All I know is...when I share a story about my bird, don't assume I am wanting to become some sort of Cold-case Avian CSI for your loss. Just enjoy the story and realize that my Conure is Smarter than your Honor Student